Kimi Raikkonen makes his F1 return with Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen returned to an F1 cockpit for the first time since 2009 today.

The 2007 world champion drove a Renault R30 in Lotus colours at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia.

Raikkonen, who sported a new helmet design on his return, had to drive a two-year-old car due to testing restrictions. Lotus will launch their 2012 F1 car on Fenruary 5th ahead of the first test session in Jerez.

@the-last-pope What @hey said, as well as the data being of no real use. The car has to work as a complete aerodynamic unit and even a fraction of a change in the most inconspicuous of areas can result in a tremendous loss of downforce.

@AndrewTanner Well yes that is true, but I was thinking more like internal parts of the car. Does the fia have overseers at each of these 2 year old car runs that make sure the the R30 does in fact have say the same design of gearbox or suspension that was present on that car in its final race?

Hahaha @steph, you’re very honest! His helmet was one of the main things I was looking for in his comeback… and he hasn’t let me down! I love white helmets, plus the red and black fit perfectly. It just seems a bit empty, and it’s missing the fundamental “Iceman” logo. Also, I don’t see the need for the car number on the helmet.

@Fixy7 I don’t really like the whole Iceman hype about him as it is because it’s just something fans seem to trot out to put him on mount Everest but it would be a cool name if he made more use of it and had it on his helmet or made some fun little cartoon depiction every so often so I kind of agree.

I don’t see the need for the car number either, if it was MotoGP and numbers were more personal then yes but in F1 they mean nothing but overall it’s a nice, clean and simple design.

Is it just me who isn’t looking foward to Kimi’s return? I was glad to see the back of ‘Mr Charisma’
although i used the oportuinity well while they interviewed him and his droll monotone voice to go an make a cup of tea. I give him 9 races before he’s bored with an uncompetitive car and wants out.

@scribbler He’s a world champion and still a competitive driver. If he still wants to race in F1 then there definitely should be a place for him.

I think a lot of the stuff about his personality is hype and nonsense and I don’t pay much attention to it. I don’t think he’s as boring as his detractors make him out to be nor as interesting as his supporters do.

I completely agree with his racing credentials he is incredibly gifted, and i don’t listen to the media regarding his private life. I’m merely judging him by his one on one interviews which while hes talking seem very contractual and like he wants to slash his own rists rather than give any emotion. He comes across as boring and selfish Thats just my opinion. At least the other drivers make an effort to pretend to answer the questions honestly and gesticulate some emotion like fist pumps over the winning line etc. I just get the impression that he could drive the car blind folded and is planning the rest of his week during the race. I mean even his national anthem doesn’t get a smile on his face. Possibly the happy part of his brain is difunct and i should’t give him a hard time. But i just feel like a youngster would benefit from his seat if all it is is a paycheck to him.

I doubt that any driver would be truly competitive in F1 if all it was was a paycheck for them. I’m sure KR is an out and out racer or he wouldn’t have gotten to the level he has, let alone been able to leave F1 and then be desireable enough to a team to take him back into the F1 world. So whatever some might think of his personality, he has obviously been able to sell himself back into F1.

I think, imho, KR’s mannerism is simply something that is unique to him, just as we are all unique or wouldn’t life be boring. Some people have very excellent but very dry senses of humour, and hardly ever crack a smile such that when they are breaking you up with laughter you don’t know if they were joking or were serious. I think of KR that way.

Bottom line for me…he’s a WDC level driver…he’s good enough for his sponsors and for Lotus so he should be good enough for us in spite of what many assume to be a ‘bored’ attitude…he probably has little use for the more silly media stuff and for the backstabby politics of F1 and would rather just be able to go out there and race without any **.

Kimi does have a pretty dry sense of humour. With Kimi, you should listen to what he says not too how he is saying it.

Kimi is very straight forward and honest. I could see that not working with everyone. So while other people may prefer drivers that “atleast pretend”, I personally prefer Kimi’s straight forward honest approach. Different strokes for different folks and all.

Although ironically, for all of the complains about Kimi being charisma devoid and a PR disaster, he certainly has a penchant for drumming up a lot of publicity.

I couldn’t really care less about Kimi. I like him but it means squat to me that he’s back because I don’t expect much. The Lotus has struggled in recent years, Kimi’s been out for a while, the tyres have changed as have strategy and fuel loads, the cars are very different and he got sick of F1 once before. I don’t think he’ll add much except people get to say there’s an extra world champion on the grid but if he’s not competitive then I don’t care- look at how much Schumacher has struggled. It’s easy to forget he’s there.

Oh boo, more Kimi ain’t got it no more comments…. Is this because MSC’s return has been such a let down or because Ferrari let Kimi down?? Take the drivers seat on this one for once. Kimi is a champ, he has racing in his blood, that’s what he has been doing since he left F1, just in a different format. The paycheck might be enticing, but I’m sure he has more passion than say “Lewis Hamilton” did last year and more skill than all of last years Renault drivers put together. If the car is c
ompetitive Kimi will not disappoint. Start the betting.. I bet he does better than say Adrian Sutil, who has done nothing in a similar car for 5 yrs…. Who would you choose?

Don’t forget the F-Duct was “legalised” as DRS, in that both system stall the rear wing, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see them run a version of it for Kimi so he can start getting to ‘grips’ with an on-off aero device through corners etc

Have any of you considered that KR is just as passionate as any other driver? What can he do when he falls out of favor or finds himself struggling to meet expectations? He’s just channeling his emotions a different way behind an icy poker face. When he fails he must be very angry with himself. That is what we see me think.

In non of the pictures is anybody smiling yet this is a great day for Formula 1 and the Lotus team. It’s all too serious, if i was one of those mechanics in that garage i wouldn’t be able to hide my happiness, i would have a big smile on my face as Kimi drove out.

He looks a bit tubby in the pictures. It’s kind of hard to judge and I’m probably being unfair. I mention it though because when he left F1 there was the accusation in the air that he had stopped trying and was bored of the sport. If he had trimmed down over the winter I would have taken that as a sign that he was working hard for the come back and was raring to go.

This is possibly an unfair thing to pick up on. It’s just that everybody including the drivers spends so much time talking about how important fitness is to drive the cars.

…Anyway I wish him luck for the season. I hope he is competitive because it will make the season better to watch.

Kimi has been keeping fit in WRC. But evenso there has already been many articles with Kimi’s trainer, that he has been busy with F1 training for months, he just drove 80 laps after being out of F1 for 2.5 years, that would be difficult for someone who is unfit.
I dont know why people particularly questions Kimi’s fitness in any case, he is very athletic person and he always out and about doing something like ice hockey, motocross, snowboarding ext.
No team has ever said anything about his fitness, just because Kimi isn’t constantly telling people how hard he is training, doesn’t mean he isn’t training at all.